Local teams shine at Salesianum Invitational

WILMINGTON, Delaware – In recent years, Chester County teams have established a tradition of producing strong performances at the huge multi-race Salesianum Invitational cross country meet.

This year was no exception as area teams made their presence felt Saturday afternoon at the 39th edition of the annual event at Brandywine State Park in northern Delaware.

Conestoga captured the team title in the “Boys Large School” race and Malvern Prep took first place in the ‘Boys Small School” race. In the highly-competitive “Boys Championship” race, Great Valley registered a third-place finish.

Great Valley finished fourth in the “Girls Championship” race and Conestoga was runner-up in the Girls “Large School” race.

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The area’s best individual finisher on the boys side was Conestoga’s Andrew Marston, who was silver medalist in his race with a clocking of 17:27. He was joined in the top seven by two of his teammates -- Adam Twombly, who was sixth at 17:45, and Jimmy Cooper, who placed seventh at 17:47.

“I went out all right -- not too conservative,” said Marston, a sophomore. “After that, Twombly and I kicked in. I was in the top third at the mile with a 5:24. That was what I wanted. I thought it was a good pace. The best part for me was the finish. Coming down that last hill, I let my body take me.”

Twombly, a junior, said, “I felt strong throughout the race. It was a tough course -- definitely one of the toughest we’ve run on. The hills were very hard but it gives you a sense of satisfaction. The best part for me was the hill before the finish. I kicked down the hill and passed two people.”

The Pioneers took first with 81 points while William Tennent was second at 86 and Upper Merion third with 81. Conestoga’s other finishers were Noah Levine (21st), Alex Teutsch (45th), Matt Moles (46th) and Andrew Essex (52nd).

Malvern Prep took first in its race with 51 points. West Deptford (NJ) was runner-up at 87 and Delaware’s Tatnall School took third with 105.

Great Valley finished third in its race with 88 points behind host Salesianum School at 70 and Georgetown Dat School with 77.

The Pioneers were paced by Matt Willig, who was eighth at 17:09, and Billy Wolffe, who placed ninth with a time of 17:15. The race was won by Nrth Penn’s Jack Macauley with a time of 16:25 and Avon Grove’s Dan Foster checked in at number 12 with a clocking of 17:33.

“In the first mile, I pushed it,” said Willig, a junior. “I knew there were all those hills so I wanted to establish a lead. I was fifth at the mile. The second mile was hard.

“The first hill was steep and the others were long. I was still fifth at the two mile. I was very happy with the way I came down the last hill. That was the best part of my race.”

Wolffe, a GV senior, said, “We took it out O.K. Overall, I wanted to prepare for the hills. I still took it out pretty fast and was seventh at the mile.

“The hills were tough. They weren’t that long but they were excessively steep. The third mile was the roughest -- gradual up and steep down. The best thing I did was not waste my energy in the first two miles.”

Great Valley’s girls were also paced by a Willig. Anna Willig became the Patriots’ top finisher when she placed second with a time of 20:04. Teammate Caroline Moyer came through with an eighth-place finish after crossing at 20:39.

“I was around 10th at the mile and then started catching people in the second mile,” said Willig, a freshman. “There are two big hills. After the first hill, I was in third and I stayed in third until the last 800.

“I worked the hills pretty well. I started picking it up with 1,200 meters to go. I passed the last girl (Padua Academy’s Emily Paolucci) with 600 meters left in the race. The downhill to the finish really helped.”

Moyer said, “I stayed roughly around the same place for the whole race. The only things that changed were the girls around me -- some came up and some dropped back. For the most part, the hills were O.K. I felt good and picked it up more at the end than I usually do. It felt like a better kick than I’ve had recently.”

The top finisher for Conestoga’s girls team was Erin Young-Dahl. The senior placed 12th with a time of 22:15.

“I took it a little easy at the start because I knew there were some killer hills coming up,” said Young-Dahl. “The second mile was hard but not as hard as the third mile. It was a mix of long slow hills and short steep ones that were absolute killers. My legs felt like jello. But, I still got two girls on the last hill.”